Head Coach Brian Daboll

Q: Do you know what you're going to do for Saturday? Can you share it with us?

BRIAN DABOLL: No, we'll talk about it like we normally do after practice.

Q: The Jets, (Head Coach Robert Saleh) said he's going to rest his guys. I know you said in the past that has no bearing on what you do at all? Or does it?

BRIAN DABOLL: No, we'll go through practice today and do our normal procedure. Do what we think is best for the team.

Q: The last two years, I don't think you played guys, right? In the last preseason game?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, again every year is different, so we'll go out there, we'll practice today, and make our decision in a couple days.

Q: Do you feel that (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) still needs game action coming off a knee injury?

BRIAN DABOLL: I think Daniel's done a nice job. I thought he did a nice job in Houston bouncing back from the start he had, which is never easy, coming back, not having played for however long it is. I thought he did a nice job yesterday. I'm comfortable with where Daniel's at.

Q: Do you think (quarterback) Drew Lock will be able to play physically on Saturday?

BRIAN DABOLL: I think he'll be in the same situation as he was last game, which is more of an emergency, go in there and do things we know we can do with him.

Q: Yesterday, during the team period, 7-on-7, were you guys going first team, then (quarterback) Tommy (DeVito) with the second team, then first team, then technically the threes, so Tommy was taking both twos and threes?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, so how they do their 7-on-7, which we adjusted based on ours, it's basically like a 1-on-1. There wasn't a lot of scheming or anything like that. It's basically played man-to-man. It's a way to get 1-on-1s but do it in a team or 7-on-7 setting. So, it was like a 1-on-1 rep, and then play two, then play three, then play one. That's how they set it up.

Q: Do you intend to add a quarterback for this game?

BRIAN DABOLL: No.

Q: So just Tommy DeVito will go the whole way?

BRIAN DABOLL: We'll see what we do with everybody else.

Q: What did you see from your secondary yesterday?

BRIAN DABOLL: Look, it was a productive practice all the way around. That's how you want to practice against another team. No fights. It was good, a good productive practice. There was some stuff to learn from just like every practice. There were some good plays, some plays you learn from. But definitely enjoyed practicing with that team, how we did it. Got a lot out of it.

Q: Through the two joint practices and two games, what have you seen from Tae Banks and the jump he's made from rookie year to this and what are you still looking from him?

BRIAN DABOLL: He's still young, still improving. He works hard with (Defensive Passing Game Coordinator/Defensive Backs Coach) Jerome (Henderson) every day. Obviously, as he's played in this new system, he gets more comfortable. But all our young guys, whether it's first year, second year, third year, continue to grow.

Q: (Wide receiver) Jalin Hyatt, his second year in the system, just as his training camp winds down, how much more comfortable is he than last year?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, experience helps. So, getting lined up, going to the right spot, playing fast. He's made a good jump. Now we'll take that into the season. But I'm pleased with all four of those guys. (Wide receiver Darius Slayton) Slay, he's been very, very consistent since he's been here. I have a lot of confidence in him. I know the quarterback does as well. And then (wide receiver Malik) Nabers is a rookie who's had a good camp. And (wide receiver) Wan'Dale (Robinson), who's now healthy and feels good. So, keep working with those four guys and see what happens.

Q: How much when you look at your receiver corps with those four guys, is a blended corps? You can't have four of the same guys. Big, small, slot, outside. When you take that into consideration, you like the blend of that group now?

BRIAN DABOLL: I like that they're fast and quick. So, they can run, they can create some separation. Some are shorter, some are taller. But I like those. They're young. Obviously, Slayton's got some experience. So, we'll keep growing and building them up and improving them. But I like their skill set.

Q: You obviously always want explosive plays with an offense. But with the skill set you have there, do you guys need to be able to throw the ball deep this year? Is that going to be a big part of having a successful offense?

BRIAN DABOLL: Well anytime you want to try to attack all areas of the field. I think there were 323 plays of 40 yards or more last year in all the games. So that accounts for less than one percent of the entire season, 0.9 percent exactly. So, you have to do a good job of threatening the vertical part of the field. No question about it. But you also have to be able to sustain drives. Anytime you can hit a big one, usually you're going to have an opportunity to get some points on the board. And we've actively been doing that throughout OTAs and camp of pushing the ball down the field. But, again, you have to make the right decision when you're playing quarterback. So, if they're all playing deep and there's a throw to Wan'Dale where you can gain 15, 18 yards on a run after catch, so be it. But definitely threatening the deep part of the field, intermediate, short, horizontal, that's what you want to do offensively is to try to create as many mismatches as you can, whether it's zone and you flood zones, whether it's man-to-man and you're using different type of plays, but trying to attack all areas of the field versus the defense to try to make it as tough on them as you can.

Q: With Malik, his own assessment was too many drops yesterday. If there has been a flaw for him this summer, it has seemingly been that he's dropped some passes. What do you see on that?

BRIAN DABOLL: I have a lot of confidence in Malik. I appreciate how hard he is on himself for a young player, but it's not going to dissuade me or the quarterback from throwing to him.

Q: The offensive line has played well, and you seem to have some depth. Would you consider rotating guys in and out during the season?

BRIAN DABOLL: I think we'd consider whatever we think is best, but I do think that the veterans that we've added have really done a nice job. The goal of an offensive line is to try to get five guys playing as one. Their experience has helped them. I think how they've gelled together, I'll include (guard Aaron) Stinnie in that as well, they've done a nice job throughout the entire camp of doing what we need them to do.

Q: Are you calling plays again in this game?

BRIAN DABOLL: I am.

Q: Do you think (tackle) Evan Neal is going to be physically ready to play on Saturday?

BRIAN DABOLL: We'll see after today's practice, but potentially.

Q: How important would that be if he's able to? Obviously, it's been a long layoff for him as well.

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, it'd be good. We'll see how he does at practice today. We ramped him up a little bit more yesterday. Talked to the trainers. We'll do what's best for the player and for us.

Q: How do you think he did yesterday?

BRIAN DABOLL: He did a good job. Coming back, I'm not saying D.J., but he's had a long layoff too, so being able to play and compete against another team, it was important to get him those reps. Hopefully, we'll see him in the game.

Q: Robert Saleh was talking about you as a play caller from his history against you. He used the word 'methodical'. He explained why that maybe you will set up and you will have the patience to wait. Then afterwards, he'll go back and say, 'oh, I see what he was doing to set me up'. Do you like that word 'methodical' as a play caller?

BRIAN DABOLL: I don't really think about it too much. I just try to do the best job I can collectively with the staff and do what we think we need to do each game. I've got a tremendous amount of respect for him as well. He's done a nice job since he's been in the league. Obviously, we've competed when I was at Buffalo. He was at San Francisco, then here. I've got a lot of appreciation for him as a guy. He's a good person. He's a good football coach.

Q: Will you call plays in the regular season?

BRIAN DABOLL: We're moving in that direction. Take next week and ultimately make the decision here before 16 days.

Q: By 'moving in that direction', are you just alluding to it's looking likely?

BRIAN DABOLL: Probably, yeah.

Q: What stood out to you from yesterday when you went back and watched the film?

BRIAN DABOLL: It was a good, competitive practice. Got a lot of work done. Got situations. Worked in the red zone. Worked in some move the field. Two-minute. It was a good day to go out there and practice against another team and got a lot out of it.

Q: (Jets cornerback) Sauce (Gardner) was waving goodbye to you guys. They kind of claimed victory. What do you make of it?

BRIAN DABOLL: It was a good, competitive practice. I think we'd be doing the same thing if we capitalized on a couple of those opportunities down the field. But that's why you practice against other teams. There's competitive juices. Got a lot of respect for those guys. And we got a lot out of it.

Q: With (center Greg) Van Roten, were you just managing his workload yesterday or is there anything physically wrong with him?

BRIAN DABOLL: He's good.

Q: What stood out about (cornerback) Dru Phillips throughout camp?

BRIAN DABOLL: It's good to get him back here. So, availability is important. Still progressing. Young players. Tough. He's got some good quickness. Still progressing with him.

Q: You took out (cornerback) Nick McCloud, he wasn't playing that last two-minute drill. What went into that?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, it's just like the other questions about some of the other guys, we're just rotating a bunch of guys in and letting them compete so we can get some evaluation on them.

Quarterback Tommy DeVito

Q: What did you think of practice yesterday?

TOMMY DEVITO: It was good. It was fun. It was a competitive day. It's always good to go out and practice and play against another team. You kind of get tired of seeing the same teammates out there all day throughout camp. It was good. It was a good environment.

Q: In less than a week, this team will be cut down. Do you have as many worries as last year, or are you sitting there going, I got this made?

TOMMY DEVITO: I don't know if the word is 'worried.' I think I've always carried confidence about myself. I've always just tried to go out each and every day and tried to play my best and be my best each day on the field. Whether it was last year or this year, no matter what happened. Because last year was last year. It's in the past. We're moving on to what is here now. I've just got to go out every single day in practice and games and just continue to try to improve and become a better player.

Q: How different or better do you feel about where you stand in regards to your spot here on this team than maybe you did at the beginning of camp or the last few weeks?

TOMMY DEVITO: Yeah, I feel similar, honestly. It's the same thing. It's not my decision. It's not in my hands. So for me, it's just to continue, every time I'm out on the field, show why I proved really to myself, first and foremost, that I belong somewhere in the NFL. Honestly, I want to be with the Giants, (inaudible), but when I'm out there on the field, I just continue to try to get out and get better each play and every day.

Q: How much more improved and more comfortable do you feel with that last year behind you, that experience behind you?

TOMMY DEVITO: A ton. There's nothing like game reps, especially for a quarterback. Practice is good and all, but it's a little different when you're able to get hit, especially being in game situations and really dealing with them. The two-minute drill and everything we do out here is good, but it's a little different when you're out there doing it on the field. To have that under my belt, which not a lot of people get to have, let alone a rookie, I'm very grateful for that experience that I had. It definitely helped me now, especially between the years.

Q: You're ready to potentially play a preseason game start to finish, right? (Head Coach) Dabs (Brian Daboll) said the likelihood is (quarterback Drew) Lock can't play and so if (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) doesn't play, it's your show…

TOMMY DEVITO: I haven't been told yet, but as soon as I'm told, I'm ready to go always. It's part of the job when you come into it, you never know what's going to happen. I dealt with that last year, being the next man up. Whenever Dabs tells me I'm ready to go, I'll be out there and play.

Q: Do you still have the DeVito local fan club growing or what?

TOMMY DEVITO: Yeah, I mean everybody's still been there. It's the same small circle that I've had from when I was probably in middle school or back in high school.

Q: Would (defensive lineman) Elijah (Chatman) have caught you?

TOMMY DEVITO: I sure hope not, but he was rolling. He was rolling.

Defensive Lineman Dexter Lawrence II

Q: How do you feel yesterday went for your defense?

DEXTER LAWRENCE II: I think we had a pretty solid day. Watching tape, there was some mental stuff that we had to get fixed, but overall, I think we competed well, and it wasn't perfect, but it's never going to be perfect.

Q: What stood out to you? Maybe on the good side of things?

DEXTER LAWRENCE II: Just like how we competed and how we didn't let plays keep getting –

the next play be bad. We bounced back quick and that's a positive and I think just as a whole, we came a little closer and that's the biggest thing about it.

Q: Is there a difference going against the quarterback who's wearing a red shirt? He can stand back there all he wants and know he's not going to get hit?

DEXTER LAWRENCE II: Slightly and I think that's where you got to train your body to finish even though you can't hit them, like finish your rush or finish whatever, even if you can't really tackle the running back, but finish to the back and things like that so you don't build bad habits. I think that's the biggest thing that we've been focusing on this whole camp is not building bad habits even though we can't touch the guys in the red or tackle them.

Q: How ready do you think this defense is if you don't play in this final preseason game? You're kind of ready to go into the season here?

DEXTER LAWRENCE II: Yeah, like I said we've grown and I think these two joint practices that we had, it showed us different offensive schemes and different ways o-linemen block, receivers run routes, so I think we prepared and I think we're taking the rest of these days that we have until the official day to play serious so I think we'll be ready.

Q: Have you even started looking at film on Minnesota?

DEXTER LAWRENCE II: No, I haven't, no. I think this week is – honestly, I care about the guys in my room a lot and I want to see them succeed so my focus is really helping them be ready for this last preseason game and selfishly for myself is keeping my body ready for the first week. So, I haven't, no.

Q: How are you helping them do that?

DEXTER LAWRENCE II: Just talking ball with them, helping them with technique on the field just helping them understand the position, just little things, learning how to play the game within the game, understand the feelings to feel and the angles and a lot of football stuff.

Q: You have a really young and inexperienced back end to your defense, the secondary. Do you guys as a front, how can you help them and how much do you realize that and know that and say, 'okay, we have to sort of support them or supplement them'?

DEXTER LAWRENCE II: Yeah, I think just helping the mentals I think is the biggest thing, taking every day, every rep, every challenge seriously and not getting too high and not getting too low so staying – I think it's a mental thing that's the biggest thing and I think if you come outside and you compete and you work hard and you stay honed in on your technique then it's not really much that you can mess up on and you learn the defense and how to leverage and things like that then it should be fairly simple.

Q: What did you think of (defensive tackle Elijah) Chatman chasing down that running back?

DEXTER LAWRENCE II: I told him I'm still faster than him.

Q: You batted a pass down in the red zone that turned them over on downs in that game. Obviously, it's an emphasis to keep teams out of the end zone but how critical is it in this scheme is holding down there in the red?

DEXTER LAWRENCE II: We say, 'don't let them in our house'. We want to protect the house at all costs and, even that long drive, guys still fought to the end, and we ended up getting the turnover on downs and that's the maturity that you want to see in your defense.